Coaster.



F. X. LA CHALL.

COASTER. APPLICATION'HLED mmze, I915- m mu\ M Y 3 0 Wm M a M gar M A MmW m m .w m

m m A p E F WITNESSES:

F. X. LA CHALL.

COASTER- APPLICATION FILED JAN-26, 1915.

Patented Aug. 17, 1915.

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WITNESSES: I/VVE/V 10/1 F r one n.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 1?, 1915.

Application filed January 26, 1915. Serial No. 4,434.

I To all whom it may concern:

1 Be it known that LFnaxors citizen of the United States, residing at'Seattle, in the county of King and State of \Vashington', haveinvented:a certainnew and useful Improvement in Coasters, of

a which the following is Enspecification.

- 6 each. to be independentlyrotatable there- My invention relates toimprovements 'in coasters which are adapted for use by children inthesport of coasting on the hills of a roadway or street, and the object ofmy invention is to provide a coaster which shall embody steeringmechanism that'is adapted to be actuated in response to a sidewiseswaying movement of the body of the operator by which movementthe-center of gravity of the load carried by the coaster will be shiftedsidewise from the medial longitudinal line to cause the coaster to turnits course in a direction corresponding to the direction of such swayingmovement. I attain this object by devices illustrated in theaccompanying drawings wher in-- 4 Figure -1 is a view in side elevationof a coaster embodying my invention;. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the same;Fig. 3 is a fragmentary plan view on an enlarged scale of parts of thesame; and Fig. 4 is a view in vertical mid-section of such parts onbroken line m a; of Fig. 3. 4 Referring to the drawings, throughoutwhich like reference numerals indicate like parts, wheels 5, 5 aremounted on an axle on. which wheels 5, 5 and axle (iform the front truckof a coaster embodying my invention while similar wheels 7, 7 and a likeaxle 8 constitute the rear truck thereof. Of

these two trucks the front one serves to supdd .port the front end of aboard 9 (u on which the' operator may ride in a 'stan g posi-.

" tion), while the rear one supports the rear, end of such board 9,- andsince both of these trucks and their associated parts are exactly alikein construction and mode of operation a description of the parts shownin Figs. 3 and 4 will be applicable to the asso-- ciated parts of eitherof the end portions of disposed with its upper end portion .articuthestructure.

I Referring now to Fig. 4 a king-bolt 10 is and through the flangeportion 15 which is an integral part' of the bracket 13, thus to adaptsuch king-bolt 10, to swing in sidewise'directions on the pivot rod -11.v

The king-bolt 10 is provided with a flange 16 disposed adjacent totheunderside of the bracket 13, the lower end portion of its downwardlyextended shank being flattened on its opposite sides and terminating ina screw-threaded portion 17 of reduced diameter, and such shankof suchking-bolt 10 is disposed to extend downwardly through a verticallydisposed hole provided in an en-' larged portion of the axle 6 at apoint midway of the length, of such axle 6 whereby the flange 16 mayrest upon and be supported by the top surface of suchenlarged portion ofsaid axle 6, and whereby said axle 6 may bepermitted rotatively to movein a horizontal plane, and such king-bolt 10 is secured in its verticalposition by a nut 18 disposed on the screw-threaded portion 17.

Upon the flattened portion of the lower end of the downwardly extendedshank of the king-bolt 10, adjacent to the under-surface of the axle 6,is fixed the broad end portion of a curved detent spring 19 which broadend portion is provided with an oblong hole whose parallel longer sidesengage with the sides of the flattened portion of the lower endportionof the shank of the kingbolt 10, thenut'l? being disposed tosecure said detent spring 19 in its position on said king-bolt.' v

The detent spring 19 is formed to project forwardly to curve upwardlyand. rearwardly, its upwardly extended free end p'or-' tion 21 beingindented and the convex rearwardly projecting side of such indentedportion 21 is disposed "forcibly to engage with the front edge 22 of theenlarged portionof the axle .6 which front edge 22 is of the form of acircle that is concentric with the king-bolt 10, as indicated moreclearly. in

Fig. 3, and such front edge 22 is provided with a vertically disposednotch 20 within which the free end of the detent spring 19 ,may entervieldingly to-maintain ,the axle 6 in aposition at right angles with the1ongitudinal axis of the board 9.

Integral with the underside of the rearward portion of the bracket 13 isformed the segment of a beveled gear-wheel 23 whose teeth are disposedto adapt them .to mesh with the teeth of a corresponding segment of abevel gearwheel 24 which is integral with the rear side' of ;theenlarged portion of the axle 6, whereby, when the board 9 is tipped torotatively move on the pivot rod 11 of both the front and rear trucks toraise or lower one of the longitudinal edgesof the board 9 then the saidtwo segments 23 and 24 of bevel gearwheels will coact to.ro-.

tatively move the axle 6 in a horizontal plane, thus to cause the movingstructure to be steered to turn its course toward that side of its,straight course which corresponds to the lowest one of the longitudinaledges of said board '9. I

Extending rearwardly, one from the enlarged portion of the axle 6 of thefront truck and one forwardly from the corresponding enlarged portion ofthe axle 8 of the rear truck, are arms, as arms 25 shown.

in Fig. 4 and arms 25 shown in Fig. 1, to

' the end of each of which arms is connected one end of a helicaltension spring 26 whose other end is attached to the adjacent one of twobrackets 27 that are. secured to the underside of the board 9 in thecentral portion of its width, whereby the force of such tension springs26 may tend to maintain the axles 6'and 8 of'the front and'rear trucks,

respectively,- in positions that are at right angles to the longitudinalaxis of the board 9. Secured to the top surface of-the board 9. near itsfront end portion and midway be-. tween its longitudinal side edges. isaninternally screw-threaded socket 28 into which socket 28 is secured ametal post 29 which is disposed to lean slightly in a. rearwarddirection and Whichpost 29 may be grasped by the hands of the operatoras he stands upon the board 9 in the act of riding on the structure thusto support him as he sways The operation of my'coaster is as follows:The operator disposes the structure at the top of a hill down which heis to coast and then mounts the board 9 in a standing position with hishands grasping the handle-bar 30 or the post 29 whereupon the coaster bygravity will travel down the hill in a straight line so long as theplane of the board 9 is evenly disposed and if he desires to steer thecoaster to' change its course toward the right hand he sways his bodytoward the right hand andat the same time forcibly sways the-post 29 inthe same direction, but ifhe desires to change the course toward theleft hand he sways his body toward the left hand and at the same time"forces the post 29 in a like direction.

Manifestly changes may be made in the forms, dimensions and arrangementof parts of my invention Without departing from the spirit thereof. I

What I claim is: I

1. A coaster of the class described, the combinationwvith two truckseach of whose axles is provided with a king-bolt hole dishis bodysidewise in the operation of tipping the board 9 to rotatively move theb0ard'9 on the pivot rods 11 in the operation of steering the structure.I have. shown thepost 29 as beingprovided with a trans versely disposedhandle-bar 30 which may conveniently be grasped by the operators hands.but. such handle-bar 30 may be dispensed with if desired, in which casethe post 29 itself would be erators hand. a v

In the operation of steering, the segments grasped by the op- 23 and 24of beveled gearwheels on each of the trucks will act in response to thesway- .ing of the riders body and the post 29 to cause the axle 6 of thetruck to turn in one direction while the axle 8. of the rear truck willturn in the opposite direction thus enabling the structure in its travelto turn a circle of small radius, but, obviously. the segments 23 and 24of the rear end of the i structure may bedispensed'with, if desired,

but in' such case the structure could be turned only in a circle in 'alarger radius.

posed to extend downwardly through its central portion, of a segmentalportion of a beveled gearwheel fixed to the central portion of the rearside of the axle of the front one of said two trucks; a like segmentalportion fixed to the central portion of the front side of the axle ofthe rear one of said trucks; a board upon which an operator may I standin an upright position; a bracket se cured to each end of said board; aking-bolt pivot-ally attached to each of said brackets to extenddownwardly therefrom, said kingbolts being each provided with an annularflange below which its shank extends, the said shankof each of saidking-bolts being disposed within said king-bolt hole in the axle of adifferent one of said two trucks with its annular flange resting uponthe top surface of said axle and with its lower end 2. A coaster of theclassde scribed, em-

bodying front and .rear trucks, a board adapted to support a rider inastanding position thereon, each end of said board being pivotallymounted on the axle of a different oneof said trucks by pivotal meansadapted to permit said board to tip in side wise directions and topermit the axles of sand trucks to rotatively move in a horizontivelymove each in opposite directions ina horizontal plane, and yieldingdetent means for normally maintaining the axles-of both trucks in aposition at right angles to the 10 longitudinal axis of said board.'

In witness whereof, I hereunto subscribe my name this eighth day ofJanuary, A. D.,

. FRANCIS X. LA CHALL. Witnesses:

' FRANK WARREN,

. OVJOHNSON.

